WIPO has responded positively to a request by a group of nine South American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay – to assist in their efforts to improve services to local and international users of the IP system, initially through sharing patent examination results and other intellectual property (IP) resources.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry today said that copyright needs to evolve to current technological realities or risk becoming irrelevant. Speaking at a conference hosted by Australia’s Faculty of Law of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) on the future of copyright, Mr. Gurry said there is no “single magical answer” to the development of a successful policy response to the challenges facing copyright in the digital age, but a combination of “law, infrastructure, cultural change, institutional collaboration and better business models.”
International patent filings under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) increased by 4.8% in 2010, with strong growth from China (+56.2%), the Republic of Korea (+20.5%), and Japan (+7.9%), offsetting a mixed performance in European countries and a continued decline in the United States (-1.7%).
Over 800 delegates from intergovernmental organizations, national governments, enforcement agencies and business from more than 100 countries convened today in Paris to address the serious global impact of the growing trade in counterfeit and pirated goods and the need to build respect for intellectual property in a balanced and sustainable way. The Sixth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, meeting on February 2-3, 2011, is organized under the High Patronage of the President of the French Republic.
The second in a series of joint - technical level - symposia organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be held at the WHO on February 18, 2011. This meeting, which will be opened by the Directors General of the three co-organizers – Mrs. Margaret Chan, Mr. Francis Gurry and Mr. Pascal Lamy – will be preceded on February 17, 2011 by a workshop at WIPO on patent searches and freedom to operate.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry will be joined by his counterparts at INTERPOL, Mr. Ronald K. Noble, and the World Custom’s Organization (WCO), Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, as well as France’s Minister of Economy, Mrs. Christine Lagarde, at the opening of the Sixth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy in Paris on February 2, 2011 to address the question of building respect for intellectual property in a balanced and sustainable way. A number of ministers from around the world are expected to attend the Congress, in addition to other top government officials and corporate leaders.
WIPO launched on December 20, 2010 an on-line tool - the Madrid System Goods & Services Manager (G&S Manager) - that will help trademark applicants in compiling the list of goods and services that must be submitted when filing an international application under the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks.
Negotiators from WIPO’s 184 member states and other stakeholders made significant progress this week during a session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). In addition to advancing on key substantive issues, the IGC defined the work to be undertaken by two intersessional working groups on traditional knowledge (TK) and genetic resources (GRs) that will meet in February 2011.
During an official visit to Guatemala from December 1-2, 2010, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry met with Vice President Rafael Espada, top Government and IP officials, as well as ministers responsible for intellectual property from six Central American countries.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry met on November 30, 2010 with the President of the Dominican Republic, Mr. Leonel Fernández and addressed an audience of 200 people in the National Palace of the Republic. He focused on the innovation potential of the Dominican Republic and the strong collaborative initiatives that are underway in conjunction with WIPO, including in particular, support in designing and implementing a national innovation and intellectual property strategy, significant office automation and digitization projects, better use of trademarks and appellations of origin, and the development of a Start-up Intellectual Property Academy.